Dragonflight Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Izalla]

If that's the case, then there's a whole lot of Azeroth that's not on the map. Makes you wonder if they think of that anymore...

Here is that moment I was thinking of. It was 2013 so it has been a while and none of the people on that panel are even with Blizz anymore so who the heck knows at this point. They'd have to come up with a pretty convoluted reason to explain how we completely missed the entire southern hemisphere of our planet, but the geography itself supports the whole equator thing.

[Mavven]

What are you talking about? I was replying to someone talking about the Seige of Orgrimmar - Warlords of Draenor content drought. 9.2 is a major patch. Major patches always gets new zones. I was replying to someone implying the next expansion would be a full year after 9.2 is released.

I just don't see how given the current patch cycles and content drought of SL, you would have ANY reason to think an expansion will release this year. They can't even release a patch 8 months from the last right now, let alone an entire expansion.

[Ersula]

Do you remember the 9.1 Anduin Cinematic? Pepperidge Farm remembers

yeah but that was before we knew any of the details of 9.1

we pretty much know everything about 9.2. We even know how the raid ends. Nothing really warranting a cinematic.

[Izalla]

Oh dang the best part of that clip I just linked is that it is the same clip that Marlamin took the globe rant from for his video! I forgot they were related.

[Ersula]

I just don't see how given the current patch cycles and content drought of SL, you would have ANY reason to think an expansion will release this year. They can't even release a patch 8 months from the last right now, let alone an entire expansion.

I think it will release this year because they've always released an expansion the second half of an even numbered year. Every expansion except BC & even then that was only a quarter later.

Shadowlands releases were indicative of COVID, but Blizzard has been back to normal business hours for almost a year now. Did you think their release schedule was going to be prolonged forever? Indefinitely? No.

I'd say it'd be released in 2023 if the alpha is late, but as of yet it isn't. Testing schedule is a good indication of when the game will be released, but an announcement trailer isn't.

[Vladier]

[*]they already canonically explained previous titan maps aside, chronicles 2 establishes chronicles 1 is full of lies lol. Titan maps aren't trustworthy but Zareth Mortis is not a titan fascility & it definitely wasn't "edited for mortal eyes." Mortals were never supposed to see zareth mortis.

The Chronicles never being stated to be outright lies aside, Ulduar was never intended to be seen by mortals either.

Or what, are we going to pretend that Aman'Thul, in his infinite time-seeing wisdom, at one point said:
"And here in Ulduar we are going to place a globe that is going to depict Azeroth as it will be after a cataclysm in about 15000 years, which will be a direct consequence of our brother Sargeras going mad, killing us, setting out on a demonic crusade across the entire cosmos and invading this planet. Wait, no, make it about 25000 years, because here will be a giant tree. Also, it will depict Azeroth wrongly, not showing an entire southern continent and several major island chains. Why, this will totally bamboozle the mortals who are going to enter this place in order to stop the Old God imprisoned here from escaping and to prevent Algalon, who will be scanning this very globe, from sending reply-code Omega to our dead bodies. Truly, my nebulous deviousness knows no bounds!"

[Izalla]

If the continents were only on one hemisphere they'd have established that already.
Instead they went out of their way to show Kal and EK stretching over the planet, very much the polar opposite approach.

If we really wanna dig for some realism to justify the climate, we could just speculate that its because of Azeroths tilt and orbit.
But best to just not think about it, realistic Physics never applied in this franchise and never will.

Oh I'm not trying to justify the climate or say this is proof they have a secret hidden hemisphere up their sleeve. They clearly did not intend there to be anything south of what we already know, and have always made their globes reflect this. I'm just saying that if they decided they want to retcon things, the climate they established ages ago would support the retcon.

[Ersula]

Most of this stuff needs to be encrypted anyways for spoiler purposes but datamining is so common these days. No offense to dataminers. I just think the reaction to story moments would hit differently if we were ignorant of it all.

I really hate this logic & that Blizzard seems to be subscribing to it. Datamining is the where most of the hype resides. Instead WoW content creators are shifting toward their own insufferable theorycrafting. And it's only the people who want to be spoiled who follow it. If that's what they're pushing against they might as well force worldfirst raiders to sign cinematic NDAs.

[TheFirstOnes]

Now I'm thinking about it, thinking Azeroth will come out of the Jailer encounter unharmed is kind of ridiculous considering the spells we've already seen datamined. Very curious to see what that entails. Jailer quite literally has his eyes on Northrend at the moment, with the rest of the globe being obscured. Northrend is the oldest non-updated continent outside of Outland at the moment, so maybe we'll see something primarily happen there. Would be interesting.



Fair enough. Should be interesting to see what happens, then!

This mf is 100% finna slam the world entire, so I doubt Northrend is the ONLY factor here. Sargeras also attacked Northrend first in the 7.3 Key Art, but we know he simply wants Azeroth’s soul, and he himself didn’t even attack Northrend in lore. Very much possible Zovaal’s stuff is based on how fast he can drain Azeroth so we can’t stop him n shit, and Northrend was where most of his reign began, and it’s where his influence toward Azeroth is at its most powerful atm.

[Ersula]

Plot twist - the Dragon Isles is just the remaining pieces of Northrend after the Jailer blew it up.

Good. Yes. I like this. It makes no sense to call it the Dragon Isles but I like they way you think.

Also WE DO see the whole of the globe: It's in the 3rd phase of the jailer fight. We're protecting it from getting pelted with meteors.

[TheFirstOnes]

Plot twist - the Dragon Isles is just the remaining pieces of Northrend after the Jailer blew it up.

Dragon Isles exist prior to this idea though. Implications in slightly older lore imply a land at the backside of the world, where Ships entire are fucked, and we know Pandaria and Northrend both house rather great magical dragon presence, and whatnot. So it’s very possible the Dragon Isles were hidden by the Titans or by the First Ones cause it’s got a secret in there that leads directly into Azeroth’s very core if you wanna apply new lore, reminder that Azeroth’s magical primal power is best showcased not in its center, but by the furthest points of North, South, East, and West. Maybe that’s just coincidence though? Idk, I do think it’s a BIT odd however, especially when you consider that “isles” may not even apply to simple islands anymore, but maybe more. The Broken Isles housed LOTS of shit once thought mythical tbh.

And we’ve not explored the Undermine or anything yet, so that can also be a cool patch mega dungeon for us to go through.

[Ersula]

Ulduar was never intended to be seen by mortals either.

Zandalari trolls were so familiar with the aesthetic of Titan facilities they based their entire culture around it. And that was before the Titans even left.

Dragon Isles exist prior to this idea though.

Not really. They're a remnant of early alpha wow. The only interesting feature the zone had was repurposed as Shrine of the Storms in BFA. And they'd have to come up with a pretty big contrivance to explain why none of the Dragonflight lived there: If there are Dragon Isles, why did every dragonflight choose to make their home somewhere else?

[TaliaKirana]

And yet, the Dragon Isles were name dropped in-game during BfA. And the new Kalimdor book also has a mention of a mythical homeland for dragons that's not yet been found. The original vanilla idea for the Dragon Isles was thrown out (which was being full of Old God stuff). But it seems like they're planting seeds for it to be a dragon-centric area. And dragon-related plots have been bubbling in the background since Legion.
(Yeah, I'm Team Dragon Isles.)

[Raetary]

Zandalari trolls were so familiar with the aesthetic of Titan facilities they based their entire culture around it. And that was before the Titans even left.

What?

The trolls started building their civilizations long after the titans left the planet.
By then Uldir was already under lockdown and abandoned, which is how they managed to settle around the 3 Seals in the first place - there was no one around to prohibit them from doing that.

[Nyel]

What if we get a revamped Northrend? We still have the ominous Northrend-necropolis-pic…

But… what would a Northrend revamp be about?

[Ersula]

By then Uldir was already under lockdown and abandoned, which is how they managed to settle around the 3 Seals in the first place - there was no one around to prohibit them from doing that.

Mother directly explains they chose a creature the Trolls were worshiping to test on. Religious worship is a key indicator of civilization.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

What if we get a revamped Northrend? We still have the ominous Northrend-necropolis-pic…

But… what would a Northrend revamp be about?

Climate change came to Northrend and Blizzard is creating an expansion on environmental awareness campaigning. */sarcasm*

[Edlarel]

Unless I'm misremembering, Blizz devs have actually acknowledged that themselves during Q&A at one of the Blizzcons. Can't remember if it was Red Shirt Guy who asked them or not.

That would actually make a lot of sense. Northrend being the northernmost point of the world, with the known continents in the northern hemispheres. Unless the world's axis isn't on a tilt, which would explain why we don't experience seasons. I'm not sure there are any canon stories about summer/fall/winter/spring in different regions. The only thing we know about time passage is the growth and harvesting of grains in Lordaeron and various holidays. Yes, this is stretching a bit to make the in game world more accurate to its representation. Unless they do add seasons coming up.

But I'm getting distracted. They did also say they missed an opportunity to call Pandaria Southrend. Intentionally? Not sure yet.

[Dracullus]

Soo.. 1 hour until news drop?

[Ersula]

And yet, the Dragon Isles were name dropped in-game during BfA. And the new Kalimdor book also has a mention of a mythical homeland for dragons that's not yet been found. The original vanilla idea for the Dragon Isles was thrown out (which was being full of Old God stuff). But it seems like they're planting seeds for it to be a dragon-centric area. And dragon-related plots have been bubbling in the background since Legion.
(Yeah, I'm Team Dragon Isles.)

So you're telling me even if we get an undermine or world revamp so long as the expansion includes a dragon (which every expansion has) the dragon isles people are going to be patting themselves on the back for being right about the next expansion?

No wonder why this franchise is dying.